Elon Musk announced earlier that his company The Boring Company could help with rescuing the trapped children in Thailand. The company joined an international team of engineers, divers and other experts that are working their way out to rescue the boys from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand. Elon Musk’s submarine could be used to rescue the children in the Thai Cave.
When the location of the boys was discovered on July 2, Musk provided some of his ideas that could be useful for saving the children in the Thai Cave. Newly designed, Elon Musk’s submarine could help divers in the evacuation of the children.
Musk wrote a tweet that SpaceX engineers would need eight more hours to complete a submarine that would be sufficient for the rescue.
I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control, but I’m happy to help if there is a way to do so
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2018
Four are safe
On Sunday, the governor of Chiang Rai Narongsak Osotthanakorn held a press conference in which he announced that four out of the 12 boys trapped in Thai Cave were successfully rescued. Nevertheless, Osotthanakorn didn’t say whether Elon Musk’s companies SpaceX or Boring Company participated in the rescue, nor if Elon Musk’s submarine is going to be used.
Nevertheless, soon after the conference was held, Musk posted a video of submarine tests that took place in a pool. The submarine is described as “double-layer Kevlar pressure pods with Teflon coating to slip by rocks.”
The frontal nose cone serves to protect the passenger from rocks and collisions, while the air tanks and vent valves are there to make an airflow rate which would help those passengers who haven’t completed SCUBA training to breathe. This feature is important also because, some children could be weak swimmers. It is also handy in case a panic attack occurs. Musk tweeted before that the submarine is being tested with subjects who haven’t completed SCUBA training.
Testing underwater in LA pool pic.twitter.com/CDO2mtjP2D
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018
Osotthanakorn also noted in the press conference that Thailand’s rescue team needs to ensure that the conditions are proper for the next phase of rescuing to occur. It is still unknown whether the submarine is going to be used in the next mission, although the new meeting for rescue workers was on Sunday night.
(The most recent update is that one more boy has been rescued today, totaling five now rescued.)
